Usain Bolt added another gold and another record as he continued his stunning domination of world sprinting with victory in the 200-metres at the world championships on Thursday.

Gritting his teeth and pointing to the clock as soon as the new world record flashed up, Bolt took his to five-for-five in major sprint events with the prospect of more to come.

His time of 19.19 slashed 0.11 seconds off the mark he set last year at the Beijing Olympics and came four days after breaking his 100 record by the same margin.

“I am on my way to being a legend,” Bolt said.

No one among the near capacity crowd at the 70,000-seat Olympic Stadium disagreed.

And, never shy to dream, Bolt had a thought.

“If Queen Elizabeth knighthooded me and I would get the title ‘Sir Usain Bolt?”‘ the Jamaican said.

“That sounds very nice.”

Alonso Edward of Panama was second, a massive 0.62 seconds behind Bolt. Wallace Spearmon of the United States took bronze.

Bolt’s spirits got a boost before the start when teammate Melaine Walker added the world title to her Olympic gold in the women’s 400 hurdles, another success for the Caribbean island with outsized performances at the championships.

After defending champion Tyson Gay had withdrawn injured, Bolt’s main competitor stood beyond the finishing line – a huge track clock painted in the same colours as his Jamaican jersey.

From lane five he gobbled up all the opposition by the end of the curve, and then let those huge arms and legs loose in a whirl of unmatched speed.

Once across the line, he stuck his tongue much like basketball great Michael Jordan used to. And in athletics, he now has the same exalted stature.

He took off his yam-colored shoes, which had taken him though through eight races in six days, and he started celebrating on the eve of his 23rd birthday.

“I definitely showed people that my world records in Beijing were not a joke,” said Bolt, who won gold in the 100, 200 and sprint relay in Beijing, each time with a world record.

Now he is one race away from doing the same thing in Berlin.

Bolt’s gold left Jamaica at the top of the gold medal standings with five compared to three for the United States.

Overall, the Americans lead 12-9.

Ahead of Bolt’s magic, Yusuf Saad Kamel of Bahrain and Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia started their chase for their own doubles.

After winning the 10,000 on Monday, Bekele was dominant again and crossed first in his heat of the 5,000.

The Ethiopian great won a long-distance double at the Beijing Olympics and adding two more golds in Berlin would establish him as perhaps the greatest distance runner Africa has had.

Running on two hours sleep, Kamel followed up victory in the 1,500 late Wednesday with a win and easy qualification for the semifinals in the 800.

Olympic hurdles champion Dayron Robles had a bad day, however.

The world-record holder had been slowed by a hamstring injury the past few weeks and after hitting the first three hurdles in his semifinal, he cried out in agony, grabbed his leg and slowed to a stop.

Instead, Ryan Brathwaite of Barbados had the performance of a lifetime to win in a photo finish from American pair Terrence Trammell and David Payne.

Defending champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia won the high jump with a leap of 2.04 after she was upset at last year’s Olympics and had to settle for silver.

Olympic bronze medalist Anna Chicherova of Russia took silver with a jump of 2.02, and Ariane Friedrich of Germany finished third by clearing the same height.

© AAP 2012

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